Heart of Glass
by Jazzeegirl
Summary: One night at a summer fair, Aelin Galathynius gets in a fight with a stranger to defend her daughter's right to a certain carousel pony. After this fight, it seems that she keeps running into this stranger, who may be exactly what she needs to heal her shattered heart after her beloved husband's death. T for language
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! This is my first fanfic in a long time so please please review! I'm going through Rowaelin withdrawal and since SJM is only releasing Chaol's novel this year I needed something to tide me over. So this was born from a prompt on Tumblr. I do plan on continuing it.**

 **Summary: One night at a summer fair, Aelin gets in a fight with a stranger to defend her daughter's right to a certain carousel pony. After this fight, it seems that she keeps running into this stranger, who may be exactly what she needs to heal her shattered heart after her husband's death.**

Chapter 1

Aelin stalked up to the man leaning over the railing with his gaze pinned on two fighting girls on the merry-go-round. He was dressed entirely in black and a stark tattoo snaked up his muscled neck to his cheekbone-not someone you generally approaached, even in a carnival filled with the heady scents of summer and laughing families. But Aelin's daughter was her life and sometimes the only thing to get her up in the morning and she would do anything for her.

She tapped the man on the shoulder. He turned and his eyes-a beautiful pine green yet devoid of light-flicked up and down her body. "What?" he snapped.

Aelin smiled pleasantly at him even as her anger grew at his rudeness. "It appears that our daughters are fighting over the carousel ponies," she pointed to the girls. Her daughter had her teeth bared as she tried to pull off a little girl clinging to the pole sprouting out of the pony's back. The arnival attendant, sitting on the other side of the carousel, hadn't noticed the fight yet. "My daughter was on the pony first before your daughter pushed her off so could you please tell your daughter to move?" Aelin's word were polite but a will of steel was beneath them. She knew that if Blaise was kicked off the ride for fighting, her entire night would be spent soothing a crying five-year-old who thought her world had ended and work the following morning would be horrendous.

So really, it was a sense of self-preservation that motivated Aelin, when the man answered with a curt "no" and pointedly turned his back, to tap him on the shoulder more forcefully and say, "I don't konw if I was clear. My daughter was there first. So get yours off the fucking horse."

The man's nostrils flared and he took a step closer to Aelin. The bastard was trying to intimidate her by towering over her. "Lyria wouldn't be fighting for no reason." His strange accent rolled the words off his tongue even though he was growling.

"Well neither would Blaise," Aelin half-yelled, attracting furtive glances from parents around them. She wanted to rage at them, tell them to mind their own business in their perfectly ordered little lives, but one battle at a time was sufficient.

The man again turned away, completely ignoring her. She was stunned. People never ignored Aelin Galathynius. As CEO of a company she ahd started from the ground up and daughter of two renowned politicians, she was used to her orders being followed. Immediately. "That's it," she muttered. She vaulted over the fence as the ride rumbled to a start and onto the platform. Now, Blaise had succeeded in yanking the other girl off the horse and the two were scrabbling on the carousel floor, pony forgotten. Even Aelin warmed with pride for Blaise not giving in, she pulled the kids apart. "Hey, kid," she loked at the other girl, who had a fingernail scratch down her face. "Lyria, right?" the child nodded, her lower lip stuck out in an effort to hold back tears. "Blaise had this pony first so you can find another one. You can have this pony the next ride." All of this was said in the most motherly tone Aelin could summon at the moment-which, admittedly, was not very motherly.

The girl blinked at her with big green eyes then shook her head emphatically, brown curls bouncing. "No!" she screamed in Aelin's face. She clearly inherited her father's manners.

Aelin was so not in the mood for this. She forced a long breath out, grabbed Lyria's arm, and steered her to the sleigh that was usually where the parens sat. "You stay here." Her tone allowed no argument. Blaise was already perched atop the disputed pony, face split by a wide grin. Aelin sighed in satisfaction. Her daughter was happy as her rival pouted on the sleigh and the ride was nearly over. All was well with the world.

Until the platform physically jolted as a massive weight jumped onot it and someone shoved Aelin from behind in a decidedly unfriendly way. She stumbled forward then whipped around to see Lyria's father. "Don't ever lay a hand on my daughter," he snarled with a murderous scowl.

"If you taught her basic manners, I wouldn't have to!" Aelin's blood began to boil. First he ignored her completely reasonable request, and now he had the audacity to shove her and yell at her/ Who did he think he was?

As the ride began to slow, the man clenched his fist as if he would strike her; yet, as if he suddenly noticed the thick crowd around the merry-go-round, he grabbed his daughter's hand and stepped off the now-motionless carousel. Aelin would have let him go and allowed her common sense to overrule her hotheadedness had it not been for his muttered jab he probably thought she couldn't hear.

"Brat thinks she and her precious princess are entitled to everything."

Aelin was fed up. Though she had years of martial arts training and knew how to properly fight, she threw this out the window and instead launched herself onto the man's broad back and began hitting at his chest with her hands. His muscles shifted as he tried to shake her off to no avail. He reached behind him to bodily yank her off, then dropped her on the ground. Hard. Barely feeling the pain, Aelin bounce up and punched him directly in the nose. He roared at the contact, the first hint of his slipping self-control she'd seen, and swung at her. She ducked his first punch but wasn't so lucky with his next, which glanced off her ribs. The sheer strength in his punch knocked her to the ground again. Despite the pain radiating from the spot, Aelin buzzed with adrenaline and grinned recklessly as she swept his legs out and he toppled to the ground next to her. "Bastard," she said right next to his face.

Needless to say, twenty minutes later both Aelin, the man, and their respective children were sitting in the fair's tiny security booth. A heavy-jowled security officer stared at them across his desk, pen poised to take notes on each of their statements. He was nearly quivering with excitement; this was probably the most action he'd seen since he'd taken the job. Aelin was very pointedly sitting on the end of the bench farthest from the man and not looking at him. It was his fault that she was missing The Bachelor at this very moment. Never mind that she was the one to approach him first.

"Now, tell me what happened. Why were you two tussling in the middle of the fairgrounds?" the officer asked. His tone was so serious that Aelin snorted. Who even said tussling anymore?

Not wanting to seem like she had agreed with the man to stay silent, which he seemed to be doing, Aelin spoke first. "Well, this man's daughter decided to steal my daughter's carousel horse. When I asked him to tell her off, he refused. So I took matters into my own hands and removed the girl myself. Then this man pushed me. I retaliated by jumping on his back and it all escalated from there." Aelin related the story, rather smugly. She had caused an inordinate amount of chaos. After she and the man had ended up on the ground, a group of little kids had surrounde them to watch. Their fight had taken them through the railing and into the crowd of adults, who screeched and carried on like old hens. The security officers had to wade through a thick crowd who weren't listening to them at all to pry the two apart, where it took two officers to restrain the man. Aelin had merely stood there, baiting the man with her gaze as the security officers yelled and finally lead them to the office. She now sported a split lip, an eye that was sure to blacken, and countless bruises. She has in turn bloodied the man's nose, kicked his manhood into his stomach, and twisted his elbow in a way that probably required future chiropractor visits.

"I see," the officer frowned. "And you, sir?"

"This crazy woman wanted me to tell my child to find another horse because her spoiled brat wanted the same one. I refused. She physically moved my child. I shoved her. She jumped on me. We fought," the man said in succinct burst. Aelin rolled her eyes. He had no sense of theater.

The officer steepled his fingers and leaned over his desk, acting very superior. "Well, I will have to report the both of you and refer you to my district head, who will decide on consequences. For now, you are both to leave the grounds immediately and not come back for this year's fair."

Aelin placed her hand on the desk, her long fingers very close to the officer's arm. She smiled sweetly, nothing like her earlier smiles, and tucked a long strand of hair behind her hair with her free hand. "Now, officer, you are obviously very committed to your job. I commend you for that." He blushed a little and glanced at his hands. "I, too, am committed to my job. I work for an advertising company that takes its workers reputation extremely seriously," Aelin looked straight into the officer's eyes, who was rapt with the attention. She rounded her shoulders a little and bit her lower lip. "If they get wind of this, I could be put on probation. Or even worse, fired. And you know how hard it is to get a new job in these times," she batted her eyelashes. God, she was laying it on thick, but the officer was practically drooling. "So I'd be forever in your debt if you didn't report me. I promise I will never come back to the fair, at least this year." Aelin rested her fingers on the officer's arm imploringly.

He chewed at his cheek, glancing behind him as if looking for guidance. His was clearly a job that didn't require much independent thinking. "You promise?" he asked.

"Pinky swear," Aelin answered solemnly, sticking up her pinky of the hand on his arm.

The officer paused, then finally answered, "Okay. I don't want to cause any trouble at your work. Just don't come back here or you really will be in trouble!"

"Of course!" Aelin stood from her chair and grabbed her daughter's hand, eager to leave before he changed his mind. "And if you ever need anything, Aelin Galathynius owes you a favor." She breezed out the door. Looking back at the last second, she gave the man with the white hair a sultry glare and said, "Feel free to report this man. He clearly has anger management issues and reporting him would do him a service."

She felt the man's eyes burning between her shoulder blades the entire way down the hallway and into the balmy summer night.

 **So how'd you like it? I feel like I didn't get Rowan's character right, so if anyone has any suggestions, please review or PM me! Also, let me know any scenes you hope to see and if anything was confusing. Thanks for reading!**

 **-Rachel**


	2. Chapter 2

"I still can't believe you got kicked out of a carnival. Over a carousel of all things," Lysandra shook her head, mirth dancing in her green eyes.

Aelin scowled into her cup of mint tea. "Blaise was there first," she muttered.

"Only you, Aelin," Lysandra chuckled and sipped her own drink. The two were seated at Aelin's desk in her office, sipping from travel mugs before the morning rush began. The office was in the corner of the building that Aelin's company was based in. The office had walls of glass to promote transparency between employee and employer, or some meaningless phrase like that that the board of directors had come up with. Aelin wished they hadn't. It was disconcerting, having no privacy from your workers. Especially when Sam had used to visit during her lunch break and do things with his mouth...no, she wouldn't think of that. "Lys, can I drop off Blaise at your place tonight?" Aelin asked.

"Yeah, of course," Lysandra replied. She thoughtfully surveyed Aelin's face and lowered her voice in sympathy. "Are you finally going to see that grief counselor I told you about?"

"No," Aelin snapped. "I want to get some grocery shopping done without being begged for candy every other step!"

Chewing her lip, Lysandra just tapped the brochure she had left on Aelin's desk days ago and left the office, brushing Aelin's arm as she walked past. Aelin leaned her forearms onto her desk, head bent like she was praying. She knew she wasn't handling the grief well. Hell, just look take a look at her apartment. Every day she came home to reminders of Sam and painful as they were, she couldn't bear to remove them. His clothing was folded in the antique armoire in Aelin's bedroom; his pillow case still cloaked his pillow, unwashed despite the fact that Aelin had switched from flannel sheets to silk ones ages ago; his fancy coffee maker that he wouldn't allow Aelin to touch was still in the kitchen, unused. Aelin had taken to drinking tea after his death. Even in her office, sticky notes were scattered about with his little stick figures and sweet notes that he had used to slip into her bag for her to find at work.

The glossy brochure on the desk was filled with words like "stages of grief" and "healthy support group" and had a picture of a woman consoling a crying man on the front. Of course Lysandra thought she needed grief counseling. Everybody probably thought that but Lysandra was the only one ballsy enough to say it even when Aelin's temper was on such a short leash these days. The woman knew what was good for everyone except herself.

Hearing footsteps, Aelin roused herself from her thoughts and sat straight in her chair. Another disadvantage of her office was that she couldn't take moments to grieve without being seen as weak by her workers. Her company, though she loved it, was cutthroat. It had come a long way from being a one-woman operation in her basement. She missed those days, when it was simpler and she was able to actually do the work she loved: selling clothes online. Now, as CEO of her newly incorporated company, she was subject to the board of directors and was tangled in a net of office politics.

Her assistant knocked at the door, a thin man a few years younger than she with thick-framed glasses and a bowtie. "Aelin, your meeting with Vivienne Larue began five minutes ago."

Aelin jumped to her feet and rushed out the door, nearly knocking him over. "God, I can't believe I'm late! Which conference room?"

"3-she's saying she'll leave if you're not there in five minutes," her assistant said.

"Thanks, Glen!" Aelin caled over her shoulder as she barreled past the currently-empty cubicles and towards the conference room. Why she ever scheduled a meeting before most of her workers even arrived was beyond Aelin, but she knew she was late to a meeting that would expand her company nationally. But that was just how her life was going lately. Things were rushing past her and she felt like a spectator. She held it together well enough but anyone with a brain could see she was not her former self.

Blaise grinned at Aelin as they walked up the lane towards Lysandra's front door. The little girl absolutely adored her "aunt", who spoiled her with sugary treats and allowed her to watch all the TV she wanted. Not to mention, Lysandra's adopted daughter Evangeline was like the older sister Blaise would never have. Before knocking on the door, Aelin knelt in front of her daughter. The sunlight burnished her golden curls, so much like Aelin's own, although her brown eyes were the mirror of Sam's. Aelin's heart stuttered, as it always did when she looked at Blaise, and she swallowed the lump in her throat. "You be good for Aunt Lysandra, you hear me? No temper tantrums or hissyfits." Blaise nodded solemnly and Aelin pulled her in for a hug then rang the doorbell.

Lysandra cracked open the door, then hauled it open further when she saw Aelin. "I thought you were Aedion. He hasn't shown his face around here in two days," she scowled. Aelin wondered what Aedion had done to piss her off this time. The two fought like an already-married couple, even though they technically weren't even dating yet.

"Well, I haven't seen him in days either so if you do see him, tell him to get his ungrateful ass to my apartment," Aelin said. She watched Blaise scurry inside to be greeted by Evangeline and smiled. "If she misbehaves, don't be afraid to put her in timeout or something."

Lysandra rolled her eyes. "Like you always do? That child's a terror and you do nothing about it," she grinned to soften her words. Blaise definitely lived up to her namesake, but as Aelin's child, what else could you expect?

Aelin grabbed Lysandra's hand and squeezed. "Thank you so much, Lys. I'll be back in an hour," she turned and left the little gingerbread house, with its white shutters and flowered walkway. Her black Jeep was still running in the driveway so she climbed in and roared out without a glance back.

On the way there, Aelin felt like she hit every single red light. The waits were unreasonably long today, too. With each light, Aelin swore and hit the steering wheel, her blood pressure rising every time. The sun was below the horizon by now, its former presence only signified by a faint pink glow. The light she was sitting at was such a maddening red color. She bared her teeth at it and growled, not caring what the drivers next to her thought. Finally, finally after agonizing seconds of waiting, the light shifted to green. Aelin didn't bother to look as she pressed her foot down on the gas. Reckless driving was her specialty. She gunned through the intersection and was almost across when she felt an impact against the left side of the car. The Jeep spun once, twice, then crunched to a halt for only seconds before another impact slammed into the other side. Aelin was jolted to the side and slammed her head on the window, which was cracked from the other impact. Panic filled her as she realized her legs had been trapped below the steering wheel by twisted metal. She tried getting them out but her senses began to numb and her vision blurred until everything was black.

 **Aaahhhh a cliffhanger! I'm sorry (not really hahahaha). I'm sorry that this chapter was so short even though it took so long to update! But AP exams will be over in two weeks and then it's almost summer and I plan to finish this story over the summer. I'm not exactly sure what direction I'm taking it so message me with any suggestions!**

 **Also thank you soooo much to all my reviewers! I love you all! I promise that this chapter I will personally reply to all my reviews if they aren't anonymous. Let me know what you thought!**

 **-Rachel**


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